Single-board computers to help with your DIY tech projects

Each week, we spotlight a cool innovation recommended by some of the industry's top tech writers. This week's pick is a roundup of single-board computers.

A handful of new single-board computers are providing options for homemade robots and other tech projects, said Richard Baguley at Wired. The pocket-size Raspberry Pi 4 computer is still "beloved by DIY enthusiasts and hardware hackers for its versatility and ease of use." The even-smaller BeagleBoard PocketBeagle is convenient for amateur roboticists, with "an ARM-3 Cortex CPU, two 200 MHz microprocessors, and 512 MB of memory."

For a homemade media center, consider the Hardkernel Odroid-N2, which "includes everything you get with a Pi 4," just with "much better cooling," more USB 3 ports, and an IR receiver. With the free CoreELEC operating system, the $65 board "can do everything from play Netflix in HD to emulate a PlayStation for retro gaming."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

This article was first published in the The Week magazine. If you want to read more like it, you can try six risk-free issues of the magazine here.